The spin-off, currently dubbed TradeStation Crypto, would serve semi-professional traders and seeks to shore up profitability for Monex’s cryptocurrency offerings.

Reuters also noted today that Monex had a loss of over $15 million on its crypto operations in 2018. The figure, part of financial performance data released this week, stems from the loss-making Coincheck exchange that Monex acquired last April.

Despite restructuring the platform and returning it to full regulated service, the operator saw total losses of 1.7 billion yen ($15.2 million) for the 12 months to March 2019.

The report caps a difficult year for cryptocurrency businesses, with bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins spending much of the period in a phase of significant decline from previous highs.

In November, BTC/USD almost halved to hit recent lows of $3,100, a move which accompanied a drop in mining activity and cost-cutting exercises by exposed companies such as mining giant Bitmain and exchange Huobi.